Submitted by Lexie McMann on the 2019 winter session study abroad program in Australia and New Zealand sponsored by the Department of Hospitality Business Management…
My program was focused around culture and cuisine, so one night, we got to go to a Chinese restaurant for a 10-course dinner. The restaurant was named Billy Kwong, and the chef was named Kylie Kwong. I had never had “real” Chinese food before, the most Asian cuisine that I had experienced was fried rice in the United States. I was very nervous, because this type of cuisine was very out of my comfort zone and would be something new to me. We started by hearing about the chef’s background and family, which taught me so much about the Asian culture and how important cooking is in their traditions. She told us about how making dumplings is a whole day family tradition in many families, and how important it is in their culture to use as many ingredients from nature as possible. We tried everything from dumplings, a smoked fish, spicy fried eggs, to duck. To my surprise, I liked all the food. It opened my eyes to new palettes and new foods that I would want to make or order at home. The experience was quite amazing and was an amazing way to connect what we were learning about cuisine in class to taste the foods we talk about and learn about a new culture in the same night. I feel as though going through this class has opened my eyes to a lot of new foods and types of cuisines that I didn’t even know existed. It was a shock for me to see how much of an Asian influence there is here in Australia. I expected more of a British and European influence, but am learning quickly that there is a large Asian presence in this country. It is interesting to see the different ways that the climate can determine which ingredients they can use here as well, so I am getting to try many different foods that grow here.
